BUDDY HOLLY and THE CRICKETS : CRICKETS WERE INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME IN 2012

  The Crickets who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 were Jerry Allison, Joe B. - Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, and Sonny Curtis.  The picture is of Jerry and Sonny with Buddy.

Here's an updated link! ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME PAGE - THE CRICKETS

Buddy left Sonny and Joe B behind when he went on the tour where the plane crashed and killed him, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, so they survived and went on.  They played surf inspired music in the early 1960's.

(442) VENTURES : THIS ONE GOES OUT TO OUR FRIEND ARNE!

The Ventures, known for surf music like the famous "Pipeline," put out a Christmas Album in '65, and instead of Christmas in July it's more like surf music in December!  The Ventures cover of "The Christmas Song" blends surf music with the guitar sound that is almost British Invasion.

VENTURES OFFICIAL SITE link here!

Playing DJ here, we want to send this song out to our friend ARNE, who was one of the first to post Wes Bryan songs on YouTube and who runs an impressive YouTube channel as well as being an oldies record collector! 

Happy Holidays and a terrific 2013 Arne!

 

DON'T HURT MY LITTLE SISTER : THE SURFARIS : SUMMER 1965

FROM OUR ARCHIVES : POST (209) SURFARIS WIPE OUT!

FROM OUR ARCHIVES : POST (209) SURFARIS WIPE OUT! June 29 2009

Surfaris - what a great name for a group, so evocative of surfing adventure! Their surf hit "Wipe Out" - recorded in 1962 - has to be one of the most memorable of all the surf music that came out in the early 1960's and is played as an eternal classic - every summer since! "Wipe Out" is famous for that invigorating drum solo. Since the Surfaris have web sites and even a Google Blogger - yes they blog too! - we're posting links to them that probably tell their story better than we could!


UPDATED July 2012 Linking to active Surfaris official site!

BEACH BOYS 1964 ON BRITAINS READY STEADY GO SHOW!

BOBBY FULLER WEST TEXAS TO THE SURF

We thought this documentary was an exceptional contribution to YouTube and Music History...



I didn't know Bobby but I went to see him perform at PJ's, a club on Hillcrest. He reminded me of Buddy Holly in the way that he played. His performances made you want to stand up and applaud.

(257) THE ILLUSIONS, SURFERS LULLABYE

A "local" California band, the Illusions, had a great fan following, and sustained their glory for several years. If you'll click on the title link you'll go to the closest thing to an official site for the band that we found on the net.

(256) CHANTAYS PIPELINE

Thank you to the YouTube contributor who posted this historical music video of the Chantays on Lawrence Welk show. Lawrence had a son who was into the music business - the rock and roll business as it existed at the time - as well. No doubt he told dad to have the Chantays on the show because surf or rock n roll was a real departure for Lawrence. This was recorded in 1962 and the show is from 1963!



Click on the link title above to get to the Chantay's own website... and yes they are also performing this summer in Southern California.

(255) SURFARIS WIPE OUT !

Surfaris - what a great name for a group, so evocative of surfing adventure! Their surf hit "Wipe Out" - recorded in 1962 - has to be one of the most memorable of all the surf music that came out in the early 1960's and is played as an eternal classic - every summer since! "Wipe Out" is famous for that invigorating drum solo. Since the Surfaris have web sites and even a Google Blogger - yes they blog too! - we're posting links to them that probably tell their story better than we could!


UPDATED July 2012 Linking to active Surfaris official site!

(254) SURFIN' SAFARI RELEASED SUMMER 1962 on CAPITOL

The Beach Boy's Surfin Safari album, released in the summer of '62 by Capitol Records, was probably one of the biggest album's besides Dick Dale's. It introduced the Beach Boys and their marketing concept - that they were surfers (when one of them had actually surfed and Brian Wilson was a "in my room" person - to the world.)

Christine here : The Beach Boy's also, I believe, marketed the concept of a new kind of woman to the nation "The California Girl." She was/is fresh faced, long haired, blond, thin, athletic, casual, friendly.

(251) JERRY COLE and HIS SPACEMAN SURF MUSIC

My friend Jerry Cole not only did Spaceman music, he did surf music. Here is one of his best, and what a guitarist he was! (Use the search feature of this blog to read what else we have to say about Jerry, who recently passed away!)

(250) I MEET BRIAN WILSON

One day in the studio I met Brian Wilson, of the Beach Boys, who showed me some of the lyrics he was writing, wanting my opinion. I was honored when anyone asked my opinion. I thought Brian was insecure about his talent. And today I know that Brian has struggled for years to overcome so much, I can admire him as much for his ability to persist as I can his musical genius.

At the time what we had around the studio was fun working. His wife Marilyn, used to drive by me as she dropped Brian off or picked him up from the studio, and she'd give me the finger - along with a big smile and a laugh!

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(249) SURF MUSIC and ME

Maybe songs from the late 1950's like Buddy Knox's "Hula Love" and Pat Boone's "Love Letters in the Sand," and the Hawaii craze that started when Hawaii became a state of the United States, started it...

Although I was not so much into it myself at the time, having been raised in the Smokey Mountains far from any ocean and more into my roots in Country, the summer of 1962 was the summer that California surf music washed across the United States like an tidal wave from west to east!

In the studios I began to meet the surf music stars.

(248) FRANKIE AVALON GEARS UP FOR THE BEACH MOVIES!

My Friend from New York, Frankie Avalon, was also headed for a movie career. (He would eventually make eight beach movies in about three years for Warner Brothers.) Frankie, from Philadelphia, and an Italian family, was teamed up with Annette Funicello, who became the Italian-American princess of films. He would make "Back to the Beach," "Beach Blanket Bingo," "Beach Party," "Muscle Beach Party,"...



Surf music was the craze and taking the teen idol romance movie to the beach made a lot of sense. I knew Frankie Avalon in New York and at one point while with United Artists I'd been considered to star in beach movies myself. But the farm country aspect of me, that aspect that I had in common with James Dean, was too strong.

Coming this summer 2009 on Wes Bryan - My Life In Music - SURF MUSIC

Come summer 2009 it's our plan to cover a bit about the surf music craze that hit the Pacific Coast and was so much the soundtrack of the early 1960's in Southern California. Stay Tuned!

(188) DIVERSITY ON THE CHARTS and COVER TUNES YESTERDAY AND TODAY

So far you've seen the diversity of hit records on the charts in the early 1960's, 1960-1961 (and we'll be heading for 1962 in the near future).

Doo Wop, Rockabilly, Novelty Tunes, an emerging surf music sound, harmonies that the Everly Brothers performed as well as opera-inspired songs like Elvis' "It's Now or Never," and so many other sounds, including the "Girl Groups" of Motown are represented on those charts as big sellers.

Because we live in 2008 and know about the history of Rock and Roll from the long view, we know that it's a matter of a couple years before what's been termed "The British Invasion" though in our opinion there was an American Invasion of Britian first. American artists like Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran toured England, Buddy Knox and I almost got there, and it's well known that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and so many other British originated bands that come along into fame mid to late 1960's are inspired by those early Rock and Rollers. Many of the hits of the late 1950's to early 1960's have become classics that have been recorded "Covered" time and time again.

Christine and I are really fascinated by what's been happening as some of the most famous Rock and Rollers are aging, and beginning to look to "standards" from the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's. Linda Ronstadt's been doing it, Rod Stewart's been doing it... mining the classics from the Big Band Sound.

So before we go on with our Wes Bryan narrative, we're going to take a bit of a departure here on Wes Bryan -My Life in Music and we're going to post some of those "Oldies" and their "Covers."

We'll be depending on YouTube of course, and we want to thank again all those contributors that make a history of music oriented blog like ours more interesting.